What to Know
If you’re a teacher, at least at the elementary school level, then having your kids write letters to active duty soldiers might be a yearly occurrence. And, in most cases, so are those unhinged letters that kids write without really thinking what they are saying. That’s what happened for one second grade teacher, who shared a picture of one of her student’s letters to a soldier on TikTok.
The idea behind these letters is to “thank a hero” for their service and to add some kind words. You might have seen these kinds of letters pop up on social media before, either from years ago or from present day elementary school students. In this case, it appears to be a letter written more recently, but don’t worry, because apparently, the veterans and soldiers in the comments have a solid sense of humor about these things.
Most veterans have a sense of humor about these types of letters.
Though the student’s name is redacted in the TikTok, the teacher wrote on the screen that the assignment was completed by a second grade child in her class. The child wrote, “Dear veteran, Thank you for your bravery. I’m thankful. P.s. knonk knonk who’s there orange orange who orange you glad you’re still alive.” Yes, with the misspellings and missing punctuation to boot.
Thankfully, most veterans didn’t take offense to what the student said in their letter to a soldier assignment. Many commented to actually say how much the sentiment made them laugh, or how they would have cherished this letter if they had received it. So really, this kid is doing an even bigger service to soldiers by being so absolutely unafraid to say what they were thinking in that letter.
A veteran commented on the TikTok to share that when she received a veteran letter from a student, it said, “You red, white, and blue me away. Please don’t die.” I mean, that’s fair enough, I guess.
Another added, “Veteran here. I kept a letter up in my rack that just said, ‘Hope you don’t die’ I got from a kid…someone will cherish that forever and show all their friends.”
Let’s hope that’s the case with this particular veteran letter.
Hey, the right message is there underneath the bluntness of it all. And, to be fair, the kid just wants the soldier reading it to be grateful that they are still alive.
Other veterans agreed in the comments that if they were to receive the letter they would love it. Someone else even said that soldiers would “fight over” such an iconic letter from a kid. It’s all about finding the humor in what can otherwise be a pretty dark place, and whatever the letters say, apparently, soldiers enjoy getting them.
“OK but my husband and his Navy friends have a very inappropriate sense of humor and would find this hilarious,” a Navy wife commented.
And, honestly, the most important thought of all when it comes to this letter: “Where are the videos of the soldiers reading these letters?”
